Back To School
by Green Gallant
Summary: After a mystifying summer in Gravity Falls, Dipper and Mabel must return home to start the school year, only for Grunkle Stan to receive a phone asking to keep them a while longer while their parents sort of stuff out. After a bizarre summer in Gravity Falls what awaits the kids when they have to attend school there as well?


_Author's Note: Hey this is Green Gallant with my first ever Gravity Falls fanfic. I've been watching the show off and on since I first discovered it and watch it whenever I have the chance. I don't actually know that much about the show since I haven't seen all of the episodes yet, so I decided to take a crack at this and see how it turns out. I whipped this up in probably about an hour's time. I hope you guys like it. Enjoy._

**_Back To School_**

With summer starting to wind down, school was just around the corner as the Pines Twins found the day they'd been dreading was fast approaching. In less than a week their time in Gravity Falls will draw to a close and they'll be forced to move back home and return to thier regular lives. It's something they'd been dreading for a while now but for differing reasons, for Dipper it meant going back to the teasing and bullying of other students in thier hometown. While for Mabel it would mean having to leave behind Grunkle Stan, Soos and the enchanting mysteries surrounding Gravity Falls, Oregon. Mabel for all her eccentrencies was able to make friends rather easily so the school year wouldn't be quite so hard for her, while Dipper the intellect was a little more aloof and cautious around new people. He had to admit he was going to miss this place with all its strange wonders and adventures, along with his crusty uncle and the dim witted but lovable Soos who would sometimes act as an older brother figure to Dipper giving the boy some much needed guy time every now and again. It was a great summer needless to say, one he won't ever soon forget. But now three months worth of mystery, danger and intrigue were drawing to a close, he never wanted summer to end before but now more than ever he wished it wasn't so. This town has capitvated the young boy's imagination and refused to let go, there were so many riddles left unanswered and a mysterous book only halfway solved. While the town itself was as much an enigma as the day he came in, he only understood a fraction of the things he witnessed and it was driving him nuts. He didn't want to wait an entire year just to figure out the rest and even now was longing for a reason to stay in Gravity Falls.

Downstairs however Dipper may end up having his wish, for the past half hour now Stan has been on the phone with Dipper and Mabel's parents as he paced around in his underwear as thier parents explained the situation to Stan.

"Uh huh...Really? Y-You're sure about that?" he asked looking into the phone as the chatter continued on the other end.

"Uh huh, no no I understand. Uh huh, I see...all right. Yeah, no its not a problem for me. I've gotten kinda attached to them these past few months? Dipper? Oh yeah he's great, kid's just like his uncle...yeah Mabel too. You know these kids of yours are all right. Mhm, yeah I'll take care of them a while longer while you sort things out. All right, you too. No its no problem. All right...good bye." he said hitting the button on his phone and hung up with his back to us as he sighed.

A short time later Stan descended the stairway holding a candle as he came into their room.

"Kids, wake up." he said as they both stretched before sitting up.

"Mmm, Stan?" Dipper asked rubbing his eyes.

"What is it?" Mabel added just as tired as he. Grunkle Stan frowned and looked away as he started.

"Kids I've got some news for ya. Your parents have asked me to look after you guys a little while longer so it looks like you'll be going to school here." he said in a solum voice.

"What?" Dipper said raising an eyebrow while Mabel let out an estatic gasp.

"Yay!" Mabel said dropping backward onto the bed as she bounced exuberantly.

"That's great but...why?" Dipper asked sounding suspicious causing a knee jerk reaction in Stan.

"Uh...b-because...your...parents said so yeah. Thier so comfortable with you guys living here that they want to your stay, yeah." he said thinking quickly resting his hands on his hips with a confident aire.

"Awesome! I dont have to leave my friends behind!" Mabel cheered and was giddy at the thought of staying but Dipper wasn't so sure.

"We'll pick up school supplies in the morning, you guys better get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow!" Stan smiled before closing the door on them.

Out in the stairwell however his facade quickly faded as the old man slumped his shoulders and sighed once more as he descended the stairs having lied to them about thier reasons for staying. He hated having to do that but he couldn't afford to drop that kind of bomb on them, thier kids after all and he feared that they would have a hard time understanding that thier parents were serperating. He never poked his nose into family business before hand, and never gave much thought to the reasons why they were sending them out there to live with him for the summer. He figured it was just a regular summer vacation and maybe it was, but the thoughts of his grand nephew's marriage began to weigh heavily on the old man's mind. He loved his family, he just couldn't bear the weight of having to tell two 12 year old kids that at 10 o'clock at night before the school year even starts. He never figured himself the parental type, but over the past few months those two kids have revealed a side of him he didn't know he had.

Back upstairs Dipper lay in bed staring up at the ceiling pondering Grunkle Stan's words. There was something off in the way he was acting, he could tell that Grunkle Stan was hiding something he just wasn't sure what. Of course like Gravity Falls itself there were several myseries regarding thier great uncle, there was something nagging in the back of his mind that something wasn't right. A few minutes later he had wandered downstairs in his pajamas and decided to confront Grunkle Stan on the issue. While in the kitchen Stan stood in the refridgerator downing a carton of milk as he stood in the doorway before shutting it to reveal Dipper standing right behind it. The old man jumped hopped up on one foot not expecting the young boy's sudden presence in the darkened room. Once he registered who was there he let down his agitated stance as he put both feet on the ground as he stood over him.

"Oh kid, dont do that to an old man. You almost gave me a heart attack. What do you want?" he asked.

"Did mom and dad really ask for us to stay here?" he inquired.

"Yeah of course. Why do you ask?" Stan said raising an eyebrow.

"Mmm No reason." muttered Dipper averting his eyes from him.

"Look kid your parents love you and they wouldn't have asked me to look after you two if they didn't think I that I couldn't handle it. Now I know your probably a little homesick after all these months but its just what your parents asked. You understand that though right?" he asked standing over him.

"Yeah I guess." Dipper said looking away from him.

"Go on and get back to bed. Oh hey, you want a glass of milk first?" Stan asked.

"I think I'm good." he told him.

"All right, Heh...look at it this way at least you get one last chance to impress Wendy." Ha ha!" Stan joked and Dipper's cheeks flashed red as he reacted in protest.

"Dai! Uh...!" Dipper stammered suprised that Stan would even know that thought it was hardly any secret at this point while his Grunkle let out a hearty laugh.

"Ah I'm just messing with ya kid. Go on and get to bed." he said ruffing Dipper's hair to his annoyance before smiling.

"Good night Grunkle Stan." he said.

"Good night kid." Stan smiled softly.

_Author's Note: All right so what did you think of that? For the longest time I couldn't decide on a theme for my first Gravity Falls fanfic and so I decided to try something that was semi serious. I actually had something a little different in mind but this turned out well too and based a large part of Stan's personality on that dream episode before the season finale. It's kind of nice knowing there's more to Stan than a crusty old man. Anyway I originally planned on making this into a high school fic where the kids age up or advance a grade in some way. I'm not sure if anyone would be interestred in that. Anyway that's all for now I think. Hope you guys liked it, let me know what you think of it._

_Please review,_

_Green Gallant._


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